Minette Walters

Minette Walters (born 26 September 1949) is a best-selling English crime and thriller novelist, who has received many awards for her writing and is published in 35 countries. Often described as the 'queen of the psychological thriller', she was one of the first writers within the genre to achieve international success without a series character.

It was evident, if there were no other entrance to the ice house, that the body had at some point traversed this thorny barrier...The big question was, how long ago? How long had that nightmare been there?' The people of Streech village had never trusted the three women living up at the Grange - not since Phoebe Maybury's husband suddenly, inexplicably, vanished. Ten years later a corpse is discovered in the grounds and Phoebe's nightmare begins. For once they have identified the body the police are determined to charge her with murder...

'The most impressive first novel in years' - "Daily Telegraph".
'A seductive writer with an imagination that makes her dangerous to know' - "Sunday Express".
'Terrific first novel with a high Rendellesque frisson count' - "The Times".

--Author Minette Walters won the John Creasey Award for Best First Crime Novel with "The Ice House."

#2 The Sculptress (1993)'It was a slaughterhouse, the most horrific scene I have ever witnessed...Olive Martin is a dangerous woman. I advise you to be extremely wary in your dealings with her.'

The facts of the case were simple: Olive Martin had pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering her sister and mother, earning herself the chilling nickname 'The Sculptress'. This much journalist Rosalind Leigh knew before her first meeting with Olive, currently serving a life sentence. How could Roz have foreseen that the encounter was destined to change her life - for ever?

I wonder if I should keep these diaries under lock and key. Jenny Spede has disturbed them again...What does she make, I wonder, of an old woman, deformed by arthritis, stripping naked for a young man? The pills worry me more. Ten is such a round number to be missing...

Mathilda Gillespie's body was found nearly two days after she had taken an overdose and slashed her wrists with a Stanley knife. But what shocked Dr Sarah Blakeney the most was the scold's bridle obscuring the dead woman's face, a metal contraption grotesquely adorned with a garland of nettles and Michaelmas daisies.What happened at Cedar House in the tortured hours before Mathilda's death? The police assume that the coroner will return a verdict of suicide. Only Dr Blakeney, it seems, doubts the verdict. Until it is discovered that Mathilda's diaries have disappeared...
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'An atmosphere of tantalizing, overpowering menace...The tradition of the English whodunnit has passed into the safe hands and dangerous imagination of Minette Walters' - "The Times".

#4The Dark Room (1995)Something else had happened...Something so terrible that she was too frightened to search her memory for it...The newspapers reported the case with relish. Jane (Jinx) Kingsley, fashion photographer and heiress, tries to kill herself after being unceremoniously jilted by her fiance, who has since disappeared - together with Jinx's best friend Meg Harris...But when Jinx wakes from her coma, she can remember nothing about her alleged suicide attempt. With the help of Dr Alan Protheroe of the Nightingale Clinic, she slowly begins to piece together the fragments of the last few weeks. Then the memories begin to surface...memories of utter desperation and absolute terror.

'Violence may well be offered to anyone who tries to part you from this marvellous, dramatically intelligent novel. It shimmers with suspense, ambiguity and a deep, unholy joy' - Frances Fyfield, "Daily Mail".

'It was the smell that Mrs Powell noticed first. Slightly sweet. Slightly unpleasant. It shocked her badly to find a dead man in the corner, his head slumped on his knees.' Who was Billy Blake, other than a homeless alcoholic who wandered the streets? Why was he found dead from starvation in one of the richest areas of one of the richest capitals in the world? And why did he die alone in the garage of wealthy architect Amanda Powell - a woman whose wealth can only be explained if her husband is dead ...?

'Grips like steel ...Plays havoc with your emotions, keeps you awake, ends with joy and relief' - Frances Fyfield, "Mail on Sunday".
'Atmosphere, imagination and narrative power of which few other writers are capable' - Marcel Berlins, "The Times".

When she revisited, always with astonishment, what had happened to her, it was the deliberate breaking of her fingers that remained indelibly printed on her memory ...Twelve hours after a woman's broken body is washed up on a deserted shore, her traumatized three-year-old daughter is discovered twenty miles away wandering the streets of Poole. But why was Kate killed and her daughter, a witness, allowed to live? And why weren't they together? More curiously, why had Kate willingly boarded a boat when she had a terror of drowning at sea? Police suspicion centres on both a young actor, whose sailing boat is moored just yards from where the toddler is found, and the murdered woman's husband. Was he really in Liverpool the night she died? And why does their daughter scream in terror every time he tries to pick her up?

The Breaker is an example of the crime novel at its very best, with characters and situations so carefully judged that they become all the more believable as the story is pushed towards its chilling climax. Minette Walters has more than proved her exceptional talent for mystery and suspense in the award-winning The Ice House, The Sculptress and The Scold's Bridle and here merely confirms her unquestionable standing as the true Queen of intelligent crime writing. --Susan Harrison

In the small Hampshire village of Sowerbridge, Irish labourer Patrick O'Riordan has been arrested for the brutal murder of elderly Lavinia Fanshaw and her live-in nurse, Dorothy Jenkins. As shock turns to fury, the village residents form a united front against Patrick's parents and cousin, who report incidents of vicious threats and violence. But friend and neighbour Siobhan Lavenham remains convinced that Patrick has fallen victim to a prejudiced investigation and, putting her own position within the bigoted community in serious jeopardy, stands firmly by his family in defence of the O'Riordan name. Days before the trial, terrible secrets about the O'Riordans' past are revealed to Siobhan, and the family's only supporter is forced to question her loyalties. Could Patrick be capable of murder after all? Could his parents' tales of attacks be devious fabrications? And if so, what other lies lurk beneath the surface of their world? As the truth rapidly unfurls, it seems that Sowerbridge residents need to be very afraid. For beneath a cunning facade, someone's chilling ambition is about to ignite ...

#8 The Shape of Snakes (2000)In 1978, a single black woman known locally as "Mad Annie" lies dying in the roadside. When a verdict of accidental death is recorded, residents of Graham Road, where she lived, breathe a collective sigh of relief. As far as they were concerned Annie Butts was a repellent alcoholic with a foul mouth. It is only Mrs Ranelagh, a young teacher who refuses to accept the court's decision. Something convinced her that Annie was murdered and 20 years later she returns from overseas with enough evidence to reopen the case.

Although the story is narrated by Mrs Ranelagh, the inclusion of much of the documentary evidence she has amassed including photographs, letters and e-mails, gives the reader the freedom to interpret characters and events for themselves. Motivation remains an endless source of fascination for Walters and the presence of several of Mrs Ranelagh's psychiatric reports, ensures that the reasons behind her commitment to the case also remain ambiguous.

Shape of Snakes is a masterful piece of writing that probes deeply into the mind of an isolated, bruised woman, showing remarkable psychological insight. Using her unrivalled talent for characterisation, Walters examines the ease with which we accept the public persona as an accurate representation of the true nature of an individual. In peeling back the layers of this public face, Walters has created a dark and uncomfortable novel--a compelling read that reinforces her position as one of this country's most skilful crime writers. --Sarah Crawford